The invention relates to a device for connection of an optical waveguide cable to an unmanned underwater vehicle, and to an unmanned underwater vehicle which can be controlled by means of an optical waveguide cable that can be fed from a carrier platform.
Unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV) are used for a multiplicity of tasks under water, so-called missions, for example in the civilian field for searching for and examining the seabed, for monitoring cables and pipelines on the seabed, and for the recovery of appliances which have been lost. In the military field, unmanned underwater vehicles are used in particular for searching for and destroying mines, or else for those operations which represent a high risk for manned missions.
As a remotely controlled underwater vehicle or so-called remotely operated vehicle (ROV), the underwater vehicle is remotely controlled by means of a connecting cable, which follows the underwater vehicle from a carrier platform, for example a surface vessel. The remote control cable is in this case normally a high-performance optical waveguide cable. Two variants of underwater vehicles which are remotely controlled via optical waveguide cables are used in the field of mine hunting. A first variant is used for more detailed identification of an object, for example a mine, which has been found, for example by sonar, and is then retrieved to the carrier platform. A second variant is used for mine clearance, which is additionally fitted with an explosive charge and, after the previously identified target has been found, it is itself destroyed at the same time when the target is destroyed. In the case of mine hunting drones such as these, that is to say unmanned underwater vehicles which are used to attack mines, it is accepted that the underwater vehicle will be lost to achieve the desired clearance success.
However, in the case of mine hunting drones such as these, a mine clearance failure also leads to loss of the underwater vehicle, since, for safety reasons, it can no longer be taken onboard, and the explosive charge carried in it is fired. In addition, the abovementioned first variant of underwater vehicles may be lost during mine hunting missions, specifically if the underwater vehicle activates the trigger mechanism of an underwater mine that has been found.
According to the prior art, optical waveguide swimming cables are used to control underwater vehicles, which cables have the tensile strength required to retrieve the underwater vehicle. In this case, it is desirable for the swimming cable to be light in weight, in order to prevent the cable from sinking.
The costs of a mine clearance mission are generally high, not least because the optical waveguide cable is destroyed at the same time as the loss of the underwater vehicle, and must be replaced. In this case, it may be necessary to remove a large proportion of the cable from the winch and to set up and wind on a new optical waveguide cable, which involves a large amount of labor effort, in addition to the procurement costs for the cable.
US 2008/0087186 A1 discloses a method for destruction of a mine that has been located, in which case an unmanned underwater vehicle cooperates as the primary vehicle with an unmanned, remotely controlled underwater vehicle as the secondary vehicle in order to detonate the mine, with the secondary vehicle being equipped with an explosive charge. In order to reduce the clearance costs in comparison to a method which uses a disposable vehicle, primary and secondary vehicles are used as an autonomously operating tandem, in which the secondary vehicle is remotely controlled from the primary vehicle. The secondary vehicle is designed as a disposable vehicle and is equipped with an explosive charge for mine destruction, and with an associated fuze. The drive energy is supplied to the secondary vehicle from an energy source in the primary vehicle via a connecting cable, which is also used to transmit guidance signals to a guidance apparatus in the secondary vehicle, and to transmit a trigger signal which activates the fuze. The tandem moves as an autonomous tandem, that is to say independently of a platform, on its own to a previously located mine. There, the primary vehicle moves the secondary vehicle directly adjacent to the mine by remote control, and triggers the fuze for the explosive charge by an appropriate firing signal.
In a similar manner to direct control of a destructible mine hunting drone via a connecting cable from a platform, this connecting cable is at the same time also destroyed with the loss of the secondary vehicle in the known use of a primary vehicle and secondary vehicle. After a mine clearance mission, the underwater vehicle and the connecting cable must therefore be replaced, with the corresponding financial cost.
DD 301 215 A7 discloses a method and an appliance system for destruction of mines by means of an unmanned underwater vehicle having an autonomous energy supply for transport of a mine destruction charge, in which case a control cable for controlling the underwater vehicle from onboard a vessel is used as the firing cable at the same time. The combined control and firing cable is galvanically or contactlessly, in particular inductively, coupled to a firing apparatus for the mine destruction charge. In order to place the mine destruction charge adjacent to the mine when a mine has been positively identified, and to move the underwater vehicle back to the carrier platform before the explosive charge is fired, the connecting cable is subdivided into two length elements, corresponding to the radius of action. The first length element is accommodated on a separate cable spool, and is thrown away with the mine destruction charge. The return process is carried out by means of cable control via the second length element, which is accommodated on a second cable spool in the underwater vehicle.
The first and the second length elements of the combined control and firing cable for the known device are connected by means of a connecting element (for example a plug). After the explosion has been triggered via the connecting cable, in the case of the known device, the first length element of the combined control and firing cable is lost with the discarded mine destruction charge. However, when an explosion takes place, the second length element of the connecting cable is also connected to the mine destruction charge and is destroyed or is at least damaged to such an extent that it must be replaced for cost reasons.
DD 300 526 A5 discloses an underwater appliance carrier which can be remotely controlled by cable, in particular a mine hunting appliance which tows a control cable which is unwound from a cable spool arranged on the underwater appliance carrier, and is placed on the seabed. The known device is based on the idea that, during positioning of the underwater appliance carrier and during turning maneuvers, the lack of a cable pulling-off force results in the risk of damage to the control cable, which emerges directly out of the hull of the underwater appliance carrier from projecting hull parts, for example rudders and side fins, but in particular from the propulsion propellers, being extraordinarily high. In order to reduce the risk of damage to the control cable and to keep the exposed part of the control cable outside the danger area of the projecting hull parts and propellers, in the case of the known device, the control cable is guided within a flexible protective tube, which is arranged at the control cable outlet opening of the underwater appliance carrier and has appropriate bending stiffness.
The present invention is based on the problem of providing a device for connection of an optical waveguide cable to an unmanned underwater vehicle, and providing an unmanned underwater vehicle, which reduce the costs of a mission of the underwater vehicle.